Posts Tagged ' warwick'

Posted on 4/17/2017 6:50 AM By Keith Savino

We’ve all done it. Staying out late for work, or a ballgame or maybe dinner with friends and now it is time to head home. You pull out of the parking lot, head out on the road and suddenly a wave of exhausting and drowsiness envelops you and you have miles to go. You think to yourself, open a window? Maybe if you blast the radio? Maybe if you close one eye for a while and rest it, and then close the other eye for just a moment.
In a split-second you are heading across the yellow line or on a direct trajectory with a telephone pole.
First a few statistics about drowsy driving:
According to the National Sleep Foundation, nearly ¼ of all adults in the U.S. claim to know someone personally who has fallen asleep at the wheel.
70 Million adults are sleep deprived or suffer from sleep disorders. It is a major contributor to car crashes. (Source: American Automobile Association)
One out of six deadly traffic accidents are a direct result of drowsy driving.
And each year, the ...

Posted on 4/10/2017 9:47 AM By Keith Savino

Ahhhh Spring! Finally, the snow and salt are gone, the car has been washed and waxed and after weeks of Netflix marathons, you are ready to head out to the open road. You cannot wait to push the accelerator, tune into your favorite songs and feel the wind in your hair.
Watch out! Beware the big orange cone!
Spring means many things, the robins return, the ice cream shops re-open and road crews are blocking lanes. It is a necessary evil. Winter can be brutal with potholes popping up, corrosion of overpasses and bridges, and erosion in safety lanes. The roadways need to be fixed for your safety and mine and many road crews put their lives in your hands when they step out onto the asphalt.
But on a recent trip, I happened to notice that many drivers are ignoring or forgetting some of the rules, regulations, laws and common sense learning that coincides with “sharing the road.”
So, a quick refresher on road safety inside and outside of work zones:
*THE PROBLEM OF POT HOLES: Just a few inc ...

Posted on 3/20/2017 8:00 AM By Keith Savino

Sometimes it seems like the insurance industry receives an inordinate amount of negative press. Tales of excruciatingly lengthy procedures and consumer unhappiness are often found in the headlines, while the stories of client satisfaction, industry compassion and professionals working in favor of their customers’ best interest are often buried or non-existent.
So, when the annual J. D. Power U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study, was released on March 1st, I felt a great sense of pride for my chosen field and the entire industry. After a 10 year rise in catastrophic events in the United States, over-all customer satisfaction rate in homeowner claims has hit an all-time high.
Greg Hoeg, Vice President of U.S. insurance operations at J.D. Power was delighted to report that, “Following the significant declines in customer satisfaction found in the 2016 study, property and casualty insurers have redoubled their efforts to improve the settlement process and fine-tune their customer intera ...

Posted on 3/13/2017 5:08 AM By Rich Savino

When you notice them on the road, they really are a sight to behold. Sitting at a stop light, waiting for your turn to proceed, you look over at the driver in the lane next to you and there isn’t any one at the wheel of the car. You cannot help but do a double-take. Select states in the U.S. are currently testing sites for the autonomous car program including Nevada, Arizona and California, and there are plans to have the technology, sticker price and state laws in place to roll out to consumers by 2030.
Americans have been slow to warm up to the idea of surrendering the steering wheel. AAA released a poll this week that stated 78 percent of Americans are afraid to ride in a fully driverless car.
Between Jan. 5th and 8th, 2017, AAA interviewed 1,012 randomly selected adults via phone to gauge attitudes toward driverless cars. According to their responses, the AAA concluded that 78 percent of Americans are afraid to ride in a self-driving vehicle, while 19 percent would trust the vehicle. Only 10 ...

Posted on 3/6/2017 8:01 AM By Keith Savino

Saturday evening Feb 25th, at approximately 5:30pm, a line of storms raged through Northern Pennsylvania and swept into the Hudson Valley. After an almost uncomfortably warm series of days, this cold front came though bringing with it hail, high winds and a tornado!
A weather service team says the tornado in the Pittston Township area of Luzerne County, PA will be classified as an EF-2 with wind speeds of 120 mph. David Elmore, deputy coordinator of the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency, said about 30 homes were damaged, six seriously, in Pittston.
Most people who reside in the New York Tri-State area are always a bit shocked when they hear of a tornado touching down in their backyards. Many seem to believe that tornados are simply a problem of “The Plains” … residing in the flat Mid-West or Southern States. According to data from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, during January, there were 138 preliminary tornado reports. This is almost four times greater than ...

Posted on 2/21/2017 11:04 AM By Keith Savino

In the last week, the weather has been delightful. 60 degree temperatures and sunshine over the holiday weekend have resulted in the snow melting and the ground becoming muddy and saturated. Soon spring rains will come and add more water to the mix.
The only unfortunate aspect of the spring thaw is that it is also Flood Season. The months of March, April and May are usually the months that the insurance industry receives the most claim filings for flooding. And per the National Flood Insurance Program, 25% of claims are filed by people who live outside of high risk areas. Between 2010 and 2015 the average flood claim in the United States was over $51,000. A few inches of water in your basement, garage, first level of your home can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage and repair.
Below are the special risks that present themselves in spring.
Thaw - April showers bring May flowers … But those showers can sometimes be heavy rain. There is at least ...

Posted on 2/13/2017 8:01 AM By Rich Savino

For High School Seniors, February and March are usually crunch time for making decisions on where they will be spending the next four years of their lives. If they are college bound, they will be heading to their new campuses in less than six months.Per the National Center for Education Statistics, 20.7 million students are expected to enroll at universities in the United States, for September 2017, 13.3 million will be living away from home studying and attending at four year colleges. Now is the time for choosing a college, finding a residence hall, looking for compatible roommates, chasing financial aid, and making endless lists of everything you will need to remember before you drop off your child and wave goodbye.
But something to keep in mind and add to that endless list of things to do in the next few months; think about college and how it effects your insurance.
1. AUTO INSURANCE – Whether your child takes his car to school, or leaves it home, it is always a wise idea to keep your c ...

Posted on 1/30/2017 11:24 AM By Rich Savino

Per the most recent statistics from the FBI, there were an estimated 7,993,631 property crimes, nationwide in 2015. 21% of those were home break-ins. The number fluctuates by year, but has steadily escalated over the last decade.
Closer to home, certain neighborhoods in Warwick have seen a recent rash of thefts in January 2017, from snowboards stolen from the back of Jeeps in driveways; to break-ins of sheds and garages. Locally the area is experiencing an uptick in property crime and theft of consumer goods. Warwick Police have indicated that these types of crimes can often be drug related, reselling hot merchandise for quick cash.
Beyond guard dogs, deadbolt locks, outside motion sensor lights or more expensive security such as the Slomin Shield and Honeywell, how can you protect yourself from having your home and property burglarized (without breaking the bank)?
Historically, homeowners often invested in a central monitoring home security system such as ADT. The process involved:
·& ...

Posted on 1/16/2017 8:00 AM By Keith Savino

They seem so innocuous. Lining the walls of your home, blending into the rooms like pieces of the furniture. The only time you notice them is when you must plug in or unplug an appliance. Electrical outlets seem like such a low maintenance aspect of your home. Dust them occasionally when cleaning the floors and you are good to go.
Let’s try an experiment. BING the the term, “Electrical Outlet” and look under the NEWS headings. Astonishing, the amount of news stories appearing that deal with fires and fatalities determined to be caused by electrical outlets.
The Fire Department of New York released a report on 1/9/17 stating that: “The Highest Cause of Fire Deaths in 2016 was “electrical”. Per the department's statistics, 14 of the 48 fire-related deaths in New York City last year were due to electrical issues. Overworked, under-maintained sockets or power cords were to blame for the fatalities.***
So, how do you keep from having your home become a statistic? Th ...

Posted on 12/19/2016 8:00 AM By Rich Savino

Last evening I was sitting in my kitchen and the phone rang. Absorbed in a project, I let the phone call go to voicemail. After completing what I was working on, I pressed the button on the phone and listened to the message.
It was a lady’s voice, very professional, sounded “real”. She was informing me that her name was Joyce; she is a Customer Service Representative from Orange and Rockland Utilities and she was calling because records show that I am behind on my account, and for my convenience she would be happy to take the payment information over the phone. Since she missed me she would try again later.
I looked at the I.D. on the phone and indeed it said “O & R”.
But then I remembered, my account is fine. As a matter of fact, Orange & Rockland owes "me" a credit because I overpaid last quarter.
Confused, I called them.
The representative from the utility company stated that no call was placed by them to my residence. Furthermore, Orange & Rockland DOES ...